[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George H. W. Bush (1991, Book I)]
[June 3, 1991]
[Pages 596-599]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks to the National Federation of Independent Business
June 3, 1991

    Thank you very, very much for that welcome. Listen, I should be the 
one clapping to thank you all for the fantastic support that NFIB has 
given to this administration as we work towards common goals.
    First, let me thank John Sloan not just for the introduction but for 
the leadership he has given to these sound business principles. I'm also 
very pleased that with us here, with John and me here on this platform, 
is Pat Saiki. She has joined our team in the administration, having been 
a key member of it when she was in the Congress, and she already has 
brought new energy to the SBA. And we're very proud of her. And I know 
you will enjoy working with her.
    Let me warn you ahead of time, I gave four commencement addresses 
last week. And if I lapse into saying things like, ``Your future lies 
ahead of you,''--[laughter]--or ``You're at a crossroads in your life,'' 
you'll know exactly why. [Laughter]
    Actually, my favorite commencement line of all comes from that great 
philosopher, Woody Allen. [Laughter] That's right, Woody Allen. He once 
told a graduating class, ``Mankind is at a crossroads. Down one path is 
despair and utter hopelessness. Down the other, total destruction.'' 
[Laughter] Then he goes on and finishes, ``Let's hope your generation 
has the wisdom to choose correctly.'' [Laughter]
    Well, this is one place I don't have to worry about that. You offer 
something other than hopelessness and destruction and despair. You 
create opportunity and hope. You've played a leading role--and I don't 
say this just in passing, I mean it--you've played a leading role in 
helping this administration advance the cause of free markets and 
economic growth. And thanks for helping us win some important victories 
in the Congress, victories in pushing back this endless flow of mandated 
programs--mandated parental leave now, and helping us in pushing for 
parental choice in child care, a wonderful step forward for our country 
that strengthens the family of the United States. And thanks for helping 
us persuade Congress to preserve a crucial device for securing free and 
fair international trade, the Fast Track procedures.
    And now, we need your help in securing civil rights legislation that 
ensures the most basic civil right of all: the right of all people to 
pursue their dreams without fear of discrimination or fear of unfair 
lawsuits.
    In that regard, I notice some of the buttons out there. I like the 
buttons. And I don't know anybody who disagrees with that sentiment, as 
a matter of fact. You've got mine, as a matter of fact.
    Calvin Coolidge once told a gathering of newspaper editors that 
``the chief business of the American people is business.'' And that 
much-maligned quote contains an important truth. We are an enterprising 
people, and our economy thrives because people with ideas establish 
businesses like yours. They risk money. They risk comforts. They risk 
failure. And they achieve greatness.
    The Government can help advance the cause of economic freedom in 
three ways. First, it can promote it. It can create an environment that 
enables entrepreneurs to flourish, especially the men and women who run 
small businesses. Our economic growth package offers a series of 
positive inducements to growth. We want to bring down the tax on capital 
gains. That reform won't just reduce the cost of capital but to

[[Page 597]]

reform. And it won't just reduce the cost of capital, it will encourage 
investors to risk money on new businesses, therefore expanding job 
opportunities for all Americans, including small businesses. It also 
will encourage people to sell assets such as real estate that they won't 
sell now because the taxes are too high.
    This administration also is determined to put a lid on the growth of 
Federal spending. Last year's controversial budget agreement--the 
largest deficit reduction program in history--imposed real, long-term 
caps on spending. You now see Members of Congress trying to retreat from 
the spirit of that agreement, urging us to raise taxes so they can buy 
political pork. No way. Congress must keep its word. Congress must keep 
its word. And if it doesn't, I will veto spending bills that violate the 
caps and violate our budget accord.
    Our growth package also includes a comprehensive set of long-overdue 
banking reforms. These reforms are designed to bring our banking system 
up to date and to make banks, large and small, stronger and better able 
to serve their customers. The business community--particularly yours, 
the small business community--needs strong banks that can provide much-
needed financing for jobs and for economic growth.
    This administration believes in free and fair trade. In an age of 
international economic competition we cannot afford, simply cannot 
afford, to shield ourselves from competition or to lose the vast 
benefits that free and fair trade will produce. We will use the Fast 
Track procedures to pursue three vital trade agreements: the Uruguay 
round of the GATT talks, the North American free trade agreement, and 
the Enterprise for the Americas Initiative. These agreements would open 
the world to American products and would create fantastic opportunities 
for American businesses.
    We also want to create a work force that can propel America into the 
21st century, to make that 100 years the next American century. Our 
America 2000 strategy for education lays out a series of bold 
challenges: to create better and more accountable schools that parents 
can choose, to reinvent the American school by developing a new 
generation of American schools, to turn our land into a nation of 
students and, in the process, me into a computer genius. [Laughter] But 
no one's too old to learn. That's part of our fundamental thesis. And to 
create communities where learning can happen.
    I understand the vital importance of a well-educated work force to 
the small business sector in particular. You depend on schools to 
educate our kids. You don't have the resources to provide remedial 
education. You depend on schools to provide sensible measures of 
educational achievement. That's one of the reasons we are developing a 
series of voluntary national achievement tests.
    I'll be talking today to groups--when I leave here, I'll go over to 
speak to one of them--to groups that are helping us develop sound 
educational goals and measurements. And you can be sure that I'll stress 
that their business will give a big boost to America's businesses.
    But it's not enough just to encourage growth. Government's second 
role must be to remove some of the obstacles that it has created. 
Regulations cost the economy at least $185 billion--that's billion 
dollars--last year. That's $1,700 for every taxpayer. The Government 
generated 5.3 billion hours' worth of paperwork during the same period. 
I think that we can all agree we don't need this much paperwork and 
regulation. You've seen the volumes of regulation. Maybe the Surgeon 
General can help--[laughter]--make them put a warning label on the 
Federal Register: Do not attempt to lift this unless your name's Arnold 
Schwarzenegger. [Laughter]
    The Vice President's Council on Competitiveness has zeroed in now on 
regulations that turn would-be Edisons into paper-pushers. It helps 
weigh the costs and the benefits of regulation so that when the 
Government issues rules it will produce more benefits than redtape.
    Health care costs also have become a major factor for many 
businesses. Although some people think it makes sense to establish our 
own brand of federally mandated national medical care, I disagree 
strongly. And we have offered reforms to hold down medical costs without 
reducing the amount

[[Page 598]]

of available medical care. Some encourage people to take care of 
themselves. Others encourage people to resolve disputes with doctors 
instead of hauling everyone involved off to court. Too many of our 
medical dollars go to pay off lawyers--with all respect to you guys out 
there. Our medical money ought to pay for healing, not suing.
    And thirdly, this administration will fight legislative proposals 
that threaten small business, that threaten the heart and soul of our 
economic system. We will resist mandated benefits programs. You know 
them all too well, Washington's one-size-fits-all solutions to problems 
that come in all sizes and shapes.
    We will also oppose striker replacement legislation. The bills in 
Congress, believe me, could have catastrophic consequences for small 
businesses, regardless of whether they have union representation. As you 
know, small business creates most of our jobs in this country. A survey 
published just last week showed that firms with 100 or fewer employees 
generate 58 percent, 58 percent, of our new jobs.
    And finally--and this is timely--we will fight for a civil rights 
bill that pursues the cause of civil rights, the cause of equal 
opportunity. Our civil rights package--and you haven't read anything 
about it because the debate is being dominated by the Democrats that 
control the Congress--takes dead aim at those who discriminate unfairly. 
But it also encourages people to work together, rather than employing 
quotas or other devices; encourages them to work in the name of 
equality, instead of inviting people to squabble and to feud.
    You know, let me talk from the heart here. I have been accused of 
playing election politics with this issue. And very frankly, it's the 
other way around, and it has been for some time. My opponents won't even 
consider my civil rights bill. They keep changing theirs to attract 
different blocks of voters. Their obvious move to convert the bill into 
a ``women's issue'' is just plain, pure politics--a politics of 
selective inclusion and exclusion. Our bill would properly protect 
women's rights, everyone's rights.
    The beltway interest groups and their spokespersons want to make me 
accept or veto a quota bill. And the fact is we have tried to 
compromise, but not to accept quotas. And at one point last year, we had 
an agreement that would bring all sides together. But the beltway 
interest groups refused. They wanted a political win. They wanted to 
grind me into the political dirt.
    And we have a good record on civil rights. And we had a good history 
of fair play. And I want a fair, strong antidiscrimination bill that 
will guarantee worker's rights, women's rights, workplace rights, but 
will not create quotas. And P.S.--P.S.--[laughter]--I want a bill that 
will help all working men and women and not one that will produce a 
bonanza for avaricious lawyers. And now you know my position.
    If you listen to these talk shows you wouldn't even know we have a 
civil rights bill up there. [Laughter] You see the same ones, hey? 
[Laughter]
    Today, you have my word: Whatever happens to this bill--and I feel 
this in my heart--I will continue to work for racial harmony and fair 
play and against discrimination in the workplace.
    We want to build a society of shared hopes and helping hands, a 
society in which all benefit from growth and prosperity. We want to make 
this kind of society--a good society--the hallmark of our 
administration.
    In closing, let me say that this administration will not waver in 
its devotion to free enterprise. All of us here know that no experience 
can match the scary thrill of striking out and starting a business. 
Nothing better tests your mettle. And as we prepare to launch ourselves 
into the next American century, we must do the three things I've 
outlined today: We must encourage enterprise, sweep away unnecessary 
barriers to growth, and fend off attempts to place chains on 
entrepreneurs.
    We want a free society, a just society, a fair society. But we also 
want a society brightened by growth and hope. And you know, each in your 
own way, in your own communities, you promote that dream every day. And 
we will encourage you every single step of the way.
    Thank you. May God bless you all. And may God bless the United 
States of America. Thank you very much.

[[Page 599]]

                    Note: The President spoke at 1:04 p.m. in the 
                        Regency Ballroom at the Capitol Hill Hyatt 
                        Regency. In his remarks, he referred to John 
                        Sloan, president and chief executive officer of 
                        the National Federation of Independent Business; 
                        Patricia F. Saiki, Administrator of the Small 
                        Business Administration; humorist and film 
                        director Woody Allen; and Arnold Schwarzenegger, 
                        Chairman of the President's Council on Physical 
                        Fitness and Sports.